Vistra (NYSE:VST) Shares Down 6% After Insider Selling

Key Points

• Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) experienced a 6% decline in stock price due to significant insider selling, involving CEO James A. Burke, who sold a total of 64,083 shares recently.
• Despite the insider selling, analysts remain optimistic, with several upgrades and a consensus price target of $213.00 on the stock.
• Vistra declared a quarterly dividend of $0.226 per share, reflecting an increase from the previous dividend and representing an annualized yield of 0.4%.

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST - Get Free Report)'s stock price dropped 6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $203.46 and last traded at $204.83. Approximately 6,502,495 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 4% from the average daily volume of 6,783,713 shares. The stock had previously closed at $217.92.

Specifically, CEO James A. Burke sold 21,366 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.18, for a total transaction of $4,554,803.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 230,602 shares in the company, valued at $49,159,734.36. This trade represents a 8.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James A. Burke sold 21,360 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.50, for a total value of $4,517,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 233,242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,330,683. This trade represents a 8.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other news, CEO James A. Burke sold 21,358 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.78, for a total value of $4,565,913.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 225,329 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,170,833.62. The trade was a 8.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on VST shares. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Vistra from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $207.00 price objective on Vistra and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Vistra from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Vistra in a research report on Monday. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $256.00 price target for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Vistra from $191.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $213.00.

Vistra Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm's 50 day moving average is $198.57 and its 200 day moving average is $165.60. The firm has a market cap of $69.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.34.

Vistra (NYSE:VST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.62). Vistra had a return on equity of 108.41% and a net margin of 12.90%.The firm had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Vistra Corp. will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 19th will be paid a $0.226 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 19th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. This is an increase from Vistra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Vistra's dividend payout ratio is 14.35%.

Institutional Trading of Vistra

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Vistra by 4.0% in the second quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 1,734 shares of the company's stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Vistra by 2.2% in the second quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the company's stock valued at $631,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Fogel Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Vistra by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Fogel Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,897 shares of the company's stock worth $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Vistra by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the company's stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Vistra by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,528 shares of the company's stock valued at $490,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Vistra

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.

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